Commercial aircraft, especially passenger airplanes, often contain multiple seats in one or more cabins within the aircraft fuselage. Subject to their compliance with applicable safety regulations, seating arrangements may vary from airplane to airplane. Whereas passengers may prefer fewer seats per cabin to increase leg-room, privacy, or other proxies for decreased seat density, airplane operators may prefer greater seats per cabin to increase revenue for each flight. Further, depending on sizes and shapes of both seats and cabins, differing arrangements of seats may be preferred. Optimizing, or at least enhancing, both passenger comfort and revenue generation is a significant issue in cabin design and lay-out.
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,346 to Mercier is an arrangement of seats convertible into beds. The seats are disposed in parallel rows extending longitudinally within an aircraft. Rows are grouped in pairs, separated by aisles.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,663,173 to Corfitsen also discloses an arrangement of seats convertible into beds. The seats again form rows extending longitudinally within an aircraft. When converted to beds, however, passengers rest “one above the other.”
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0146004 of Plant illustrates yet another arrangement of aircraft seats convertible into beds. Unlike those of the Mercier and Corfitsen patents, the seats of the Plant application are angled relative to a longitudinal axis of the cabin. Pairs of seats are typically offset approximately ±15° from the longitudinal axis, and feet of the passengers of the port and starboard pairs of seats point toward the fuselage. The contents of the Mercier and Corfitsen patents and of the Plant application are incorporated herein in their entireties by this reference.